Music
Get to know Olivia Merilahti and Dan Levy, aka chart-topping Franco-Finnish indie-pop duo The Dø.
Together Olivia Merilahti and Dan Levy are Franco-Finnish indie-pop duo The Dø. We say indie-pop, something you might use loosely to describe their albums A Mouthful and Both Ways Open Jaws, but their brand-new album Shake Shook Shaken is altogether different. Already a top-ten hit in France, it’s a fist-pumping cloud-buster of a pop record that surges on a wave of synths while retaining some of the band’s off-kilter twists and wintry melancholy. Olivia explains the big sea change on the album, released this week, and gives us an exclusive mix to further explain what The Dø do.
Shake Shook Shaken is such a positive wallop to the senses it almost suggests a reaction to something horrible. We almost wanted a joyous album. I’m not sure we managed that entirely, because there’s always melancholy hiding in the melodies. It lurks and I’m aware of it now. But we definitely had a rough time during the process of recording and the music we did together definitely kept us standing and gave us a reason to wake up. It is a reaction, a way to face break-ups, loss – those very universal themes. We didn’t want to make a sad album. It needed a little bravery.
You stripped back the ideas and the music to make a direct pop album; how hard was it to steer clear of the middle of the road? It was about the pleasure. There was so much pleasure in making very direct music and trying to catch those first essences of melody and energy in a pop song. We wanted to let go of the sort of snobbery that exists in so much indie music and in the classical and jazz worlds, where, on paper, Dan kind of comes from. I always remember Bono saying something about pop songs: it’s so easy to paint it black but very difficult to write something joyful but not cheesy and be convincing. That was definitely the goal.
Why is military drumming such a mainstay sound for The Dø? It’s just something Dan does. We’re both inspired by anthems and – I’m not sure what the word is in English – fanfares, military music. On the first album we opened with Playground Hustle, which is a fife-and-drum thing. Marching drums are solemn and something that frames our music. Writing music is so free that maybe the military drums frame it and give some order in the chaos.
Watch the video for Despair, Hangover & Ecstasy by The Dø in the player below.
You described one track on the album as a “post-apocalyptic situation” – does that mean we’re living in a post-apocalyptic time right now? It’s about what happens when you’ve lost someone and lost all your landmarks. It’s a very strong, those images we see in the news after earthquakes, tsunamis and during war. That’s just how I felt after a rough time. A break up is never as bad, of course. When you see those images it’s devastating and how people live after losing everything… This is an allegory, an idea linked to an emotional state.
Apart from a turbulent few years and the big pop characters you’ve professed a love for, like Kanye, Die Antwoord and Diplo, what else inspired you? Japanese culture is strong in us when we write. We don’t know why. I love Manga from the ’70s. I didn’t read so many comics growing up, but I remember and love The Fantastic Adventures of Yokho, and somehow it affects us. And films, like Akira. What I see is something very strong, graphic and dramatic, and when we built the foundations of these songs – and it was a big thing structuring these songs, it took us a long time – we wanted tall, strong buildings, as if there were many people living in them. We had to make them earthquake proof.
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